Four-day working week could be trialled in Italy

When Italy last cut down its working week it's believed to have created one million new jobs

The local council hopes the proposal will create as many as 200,000 jobs in the region (file photo) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Italian councillors have supported a proposal for a new four-day week as a way of tackling mounting unemployment.

Piergiovanni Alleva, a regional councillor for the Emilia Romagna region of northern Italy, recommended that the working week be reduced from 40 to 32 hours.

Mr Alleva said the change could create up to 200,000 jobs by introducing new roles in a variety of disciplines and industries, providing work for the region’s 160,000 unemployed.

Italy’s working week was last cut down in 1977, when Saturday was abolished as a working day and hours were reduced from 48 to 40. Italian employers can be fined up to €1,500 if they break the rules, and it is believed the change led to one million new jobs being created across the country.

Mr Alleva told a council meeting he believed the change would “entirely absorb unemployment in the region”, according to Il Corriere di Bologna. Councillors will consider the bill after it is finalised and presented to the local assembly.

The Italian government has encouraged work-sharing schemes for several decades, and all workers are entitled to at least four weeks paid holiday every year. In October last year, the unemployment rate in Italy was 11.6 per cent, up from 6 per cent 10 years ago.

Meanwhile a six-hour workday experiment in Sweden was recently abandoned, after expert findings revealed that the costs outweigh the benefits.

In August last year, retail giant Amazon piloted a four day, 30-hour working week scheme in an effort to create "a work environment that is tailored to a reduced schedule and still fosters success and career growth".